Designing and Implementing an Escape Room for Graduate Nurses
Abstract
Designing and Implementing an Escape Room for Graduate Nurses
Keywords
Graduate nurses, transitional shock in the graduate nurse, escape rooms in a clinical setting, gaming in an academic setting, escape rooms in nursing education
Abstract
A student nurse spends countless hours studying for exams, attending lectures, and practicing their skills in a clinical setting. Upon graduation, graduates sit for a national licensure exam which will allow them to practice as a registered nurse. However, the transition from student to graduate nurse can be stressful and overwhelming, which can impact confidence during the first year of practice. New graduate nurses may experience transitional shock due to a gap between theory and practice and limited exposure to clinical experiences due to clinical site policies. Graduate nurses are at risk of errors in medication administration, failing to recognize signs of patient deterioration, and poor clinical reasoning which can impact patient safety. To ensure a safe transition to practice, nurse educators must provide graduate nurses with support and continued education with an emphasis on clinical reasoning. The purpose of this project was to design and implement an escape room in a graduate nurse residency program to improve clinical reasoning skills in the graduate nurse. Findings in the literature support that gaming and simulations are a safe environment for graduate nurses to apply knowledge and reflect on their decisions and actions (Verkuyl et al., 2019). Researchers have noted the benefits of escape rooms in both academia and clinical settings which allows learners to focus on safe nursing practices and identification of signs and symptoms of clinical deterioration in patients. Project goals were to improve patient safety by examining safe medication administration while engaging in critical thinking, teamwork, communication, and clinical skills amongst graduate nurses. The outcomes for the graduate nurse included improved confidence, communication, teamwork, and safe nursing care. The major limitation of this project was the small number of participants. Implications for this project include utilizing gaming to ease the transition from theory to practice and increasing confidence in the graduate nurse while reinforcing safe patient care practices.